The absolute best thing about the completely bonkers Sinister PC game controller’s Kickstarter is they appear to have made a mock-up out of papier mache and Lego. I’m not sure I can cope with anything so adorable. The hand-painted buttons! This mad Transformer-looking device frankly scares me – it looks like it will ker-char-ker-cher its way around my hand, until I’ve got A ROBOT HAND, and then it will go around doing robot hand crimes and I’ll get the blame. However, this feature isn’t mentioned anywhere in the pitch video, which is below.

I cannot figure out whether this is something I want to use or not. Haptic feedback has yet to convince me of anything, since unless it’s a game in which I’m playing a sentient detached hand (oh gawd, someone has to make a Thing T. Thing game instantly), the physical sensations don’t really translate to what’s happening in the game. “Ow, you shot me in the hand, again.” But then, what if this is just the best way to play PC games, and I’ll look back and laugh at how I used to fumble about with an entire keyboard and mouse?

They’re after just $100,000 to bring the project to life (oh but please keep the hand-painted buttons), which will allow them to create prototypes to send out to backers. This will be a sort of beta program, and based on feedback from that, they’ll refine and tweak for the full commercial build. Orrrrrrrr the whole thing will fizzle. It’s one of those two.

While there’s an array of lower-level pledge rates for those wanting to patronise the development, shit gets real at $80. Miss the early bird deals and it’ll be $120. They’ve only just launched, and already there’s a good amount of interest. It’ll be interesting to see if this reaches its goal, and more interesting to see if just $100,000 is enough to produce the prototype.

One final note:

HOW ON EARTH DOES IT NOT HAVE A RED DIAMOND DESIGN ON IT WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?

“Triplex Relay” – That… my good sir, would be the entry into the mind, body, and soul. Without this relay you would not need to use the reality link to get back to your “precious” life. Forever you’d be trapped in the digital realm. Let’s hope mom doesn’t hit the power button while you are in game!!!!!!!!!!!

Honestly the idea is awesome and I hope the best because I would 100% use something like this……………………………… but I have no faith in things like this. Oculus has so much support and isn’t even a sure bet. If this picks up steam I’ll jump on cause it really is something that would help immersion but like I said my faith in new controller type things is pretty much not there.

I’m… less than convinced. I’d very much like a good left hand controller with analog, but something about this doesn’t seem like the best way to do it. And then you run into their focus on haptic feedback and some weird mouse to analog translation… And why on earth is it going to cost something like double a typical controller?

This just seems to be a different take on this imo, some Cyborg R.A.T. style interchangeable parts and throw the “haptic feedback” buzzword in there and that is essentially what you have here.

Also, am I the only one that doesn’t give a fuck about my control peripherals rumbling away like an out of control vibrator?
Rumble Pads and Force Feedback are ok for a shot while, in a long gaming session they really start to just piss you off and make you uncomfortable.

I don’t get why this needs kickstarting when you can walk into any computer store in the world and grab either a Logitech G13 or whatever Razer are calling ye olde Belkin Nostromo these days* for less than $80.

*the ‘real analog control’ thing is most likely a dig at the Nostromo which in its original form had a (terrible) D-pad there which Razer seem to have augmented with a sort of faux-analog hockey puck nub. AFAIK the Logitech has a real analog stick.

Also there’s a bunch of Nostromos in Ender’s Game the movie because nothing says THE FUTURE like a PC gaming peripheral originally designed in 2001.

Or do what I did and just use some low melting point plastic to make yourself something to stick on top. I also modded a dimple onto one of the buttons using a dental probe and some Gorilla glue – makes it easier to orientate your fingers, IMO, like the raised bit on most F & J keys on your keyboard.

( link to amazon.co.uk ) – incredible stuff if you need it. I had about a kilo of it sitting around “just in case” for over a year. I still have around a kilo sitting around “just in case”.

While interesting, every controller that has tried to bring ‘the evolutionary advantages of a controller’ to the pc space hasn’t answered the problem of direction change. While a stick does provide analogue input, it’s four directions controlled by one finger or thumb and switching between directions will be way slower. In most online FPS’ jinking to minimise incoming fire is a necessary skill and it’s something that you’re not going to be able to do as easily on a thumbstick.

Indeed. I’ve bought various outlandish (and admittedly very cool looking) controllers over the years but they all end up gathering dust in the loft when I fall back to the mouse & keyboard setup for this very reason

Something that scans your hand at rest on the desk then push your hand forward to walk forward, back for back etc. lift your hand up to jump and press it flat to crouch. Tapping your thumb could act as a modifier or weapon switching or something. Aiming and shooting still controlled by a regular mouse. (go on, try it! No ones looking!)

I actually quite liked the Nostromo… except it didn’t have enough keys, making it useless for where it should have shined in games requiring lots of hotkeys. Never got around to trying the G13. I object to it on principle, peripherals with little screens that require the player to look away from the monitor are dumb.

Really? There’s no arguing the speed and accuracy of a mouse versus an analog stick but personally I find the keyboard side a liability in basically every genre besides typing games. Eight directions, no analog and most of your hand tied up handling directional input. On a classic WASD layout you can’t really use your thumb for anything besides hitting space and unless you want to stop moving in-game you end up doing a lot of work with the ring and little finger which are not only weak and imprecise but occupy a section of the keyboard with only four usable keys and a ton of dead/empty space.

Indeed there are benefits to accuracy and number of buttons available without moving your fingers, but it loses out heavily on Speed. Switching from moving left to moving right on a keyboard is no time at all, while on a thumbstick you need to go through neutral. Most games where it’s beneficial to use a mouse (i.e. multplayer shooters) you also need the speed that a keyboard provides. Sure, you have three fingers relegated to moving, but on the plus side you have Three Fingers Dedicated to Moving.

While I appreciate their intentions, that Kickstarter presentation video did everything but show me what this product is and does.

I mean I get that it’s a controller that will replace the Keyboard’s place under my left hand (more so through the power of deduction than their video) , but I need a bit of motivation to shove my keyboard off my desk.

Hell, I noticed an analog stick in the diagram above, and I assume a major selling point is the fact that you can now have the smooth character movement that controllers provide, but they were in no hurry to make me aware of that.

Even against the backdrop of the Great Publishing Boom of 2064, the Robot Hand Times was considered to have been targeted at a wildly optimistic niche of the burgeoning sentient, literate cyberprosthetics demographic.

Looks quite interesting. I can see this project developing down one of two paths. Either you’ll eventually be able to lop your left hand off at the wrist and have it interface directly with your body to overcome all pathetic, fleshy limitations, or possibly they’ll continue with an anthropomorphic exoskeleton power frame able to multiply the user’s strength several thousand times.

Wish this project all the best of luck. Love analog thumbstick + mouse in fps; precise, intuitive, less stressful, quieter and gives you the option of c-strafing. Unfortunately there are precious few games which support analog movement, which is why I hope the Steambox controller and this might bring some much needed recognition.

If you would like to try it I can recommend using a Sony Move Navigation controller

So, nostromo but with controller buttons instead of keyboard buttons? General shape is pretty much the same too if my memory serves me right. I still have an ancient belkin nostromo somewhere, but I could never really get into it or find a situation where it would actually be useful

I must be very old or something now, but i really don’t see how a console controller even comes close to kbd+mouse. And i don’t say that just to be a bitch about it, i really really don’t get it. Controllers are shit, period. I’ve even tried to play games originally designed for controllers, such as Batman or Assassins Creed, and almost instantly switched to kbd+mouse since it felt super awkward. The only good thing about controllers (pads) is that they are small and you can lean back/lay down while using them.

I am all for evolution, i’d love to see new stuff, but i do believe this a wrong direction.

Yep, they seem to have completely missed 50% of why PC gamers prefer mouse/keyboard. They sorted the mouse part out, fair enough, but there just isn’t enough input underneath the fingers on that thing for pretty much 80% of games.

We require more than just fucking WASD for, as an example, an FPS game, this fact went sailing over their head.
I need buttons for my weapons (usually 1-5 on the keyboard), jump, crouch, prone, sprint/walk. Then we have buttons for Use, throw grenade, melee attack, maybe a spot mechanic, maybe a cover mechanic, maybe a radial menu. Having all of these commands right under your fingers is another reason why keyboard/mouse is superior to a controller where things like weapon cycling is necessary, and they seem to have removed that.

This thing seems to have a maximum of about 4 additional buttons after the WASD, just a fraction of what is required in a lot of games. Then you start to consider MMO’s with their 40+ button requirements, this thing doesn’t even come close to accommodating that.

I’ve never been able to use these sort of left hand controlers in games, most likely due to the fact that most games I play use waaaay more keys than developers are able to fit onto them. Instead, I tend to use them when I work with graphics, like Photoshop, Zbrush and Maya.

My Nostromo is extremely helpful in my “work”. I either use it with a wacom tablet (For Zbrush and PS) or my mouse (Maya) and these days I feel completely lost without it. To be fair, such apps use just as many shortcuts as games, if not more, but the need for speed is not the same.

Taking that into consideration, I would have no use for this device. The design seems very offputting and they emphasise way too much on features that wouldn’t help me in my work at all, like tactile feedback. Also, I tend to be very, very, very sceptical of developers who rely heavily on useless buzzwords in their marketing, and these guys made their presentation sound like a Star Trek episode.

“Oh look! It has Flux Dylithium Stabilizers and a Nasele Feedback Amplifier, that should work well together with the HyperCore Polarizer.”

LOL…
The comments on this one are funny. That device is funny too. Not sure why would I want to use it. If I am so desperate to get an anal stick for movement control I will buy one of those keyboards with sticks built in…